Saturday 5 October 2013

Red House or 'the beautifullest place on earth'

After negotiating the complexities of purchasing 5 split ticket extensions from London Bridge station the Salads were on their way to the far reaches of zone 5, to Bexley Heath. The destination for our first Salady outing was Red House, the home of the founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, William Morris. Completed in 1860 by his architect and collaborator Phillip Webb the Red house was intended to be a haven for cutting edge artists, auters and their muses of their day in the midst of the green fields of Kent (perhaps it was Victorian equivalent of Hackney Wick?). A tad unfortunately, the red house now finds itself nestled in the middle of classic suburbia. Within the context of the 1930s semi-ds and bungalows that surround it, Red house is certainly (as coined by Edward Byrne Jones) 'the beautifullest place on earth'. But in an unassuming, quirky, charming kind of way. Red house is a collection of attractive, well formed parts - the corbelled brick work, round arches, pointy turret roofs and assymetrical elevation. There is no hierarchy to how these bits come together, and the plan in general is quite free flowing, but works to intended effect. It feels like a collaborative piece of domestic architecture, embodying Morris socialist philosophy about craftsmen collaborating, using local materials to produce beautiful things.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/red-house/

Funky reverse ziggurat pier? 

Round windows, pointy roofs, love it.


Everyone loves a patterned ceiling  

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